I’m generally of the belief that dessert is dessert. If a dessert is naturally light or healthy, that’s great, but if I want a chocolate chip cookie, I have a cookie. Of course, there are times when my sweet tooth only needs a little something and that something usually involves chocolate.

For those times when I only need a bite or two to be satisfied, it’s nice to have something like these granola bites on hand. They have that magical chocolate + peanut butter combo, but they also have other good (and good for you) stuff – oats, coconut and almonds. Having these around for a snack attack or a treat for the kids’ lunch boxes has been really nice. And, on the right kind of day, I certainly couldn’t blame you if you had a couple and called it breakfast.

Directions

Place the oats in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until ground into small pieces. Add in the coconut and almonds and continue to pulse until finely ground. Transfer to a medium mixing bowl.

In a medium saucepan, combine the peanut butter, honey, coconut oil, cocoa powder, and chocolate chips. Heat over medium heat until the mixture is smooth and the chocolate chips are completely melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and salt. Pour the mixture into the bowl with the oat mixture and stir together until well incorporated.

Scoop the mixture in 1½-2 tablespoon dollops onto a baking sheet. Let sit for a few minutes until slightly more firm and then roll into balls. Once the balls are formed, chill in the refrigerator until firmly set, about 1-2 hours.

*Notes:

Quick cooking oats can be used in place of old fashioned – just skip the pulsing step because they are already more finely ground.

If you prefer, you can enhance the coconut flavor by toasting the coconut and using regular (non-refined) coconut oil. If you want to dial down the coconut, skip the toasting and use refined coconut oil.

If you have raw almonds, toast them lightly in a skillet to enhance the flavor.

I’m glad you like these little granola bites, Annie. Your two photos are so pretty. You have mad photography skills, my friend! Now that school is back in session, I’ve been popping one of these in my kids’ lunches along with their sandwich, fruit and other fare and they pretty much think they’ve died and gone to heaven. Little do they know I’m eating them all day long while they are away!

Warm Vanilla Sugar

I love little snacks like this! This has so many fun flavours in it :)

SecretsofaYoungWife

What an awesome treat! I can’t wait to try this. Do you think they would last in a lunch box?

cookitgirl

I have these moments all the time! I only want just a little something,not like a whole batch of cookies, just one. But where would i find just one! Great recipe!

They look fantastic. I’d love to make them for the grandsons as a special breakfast treat. And I don’t like the “lite” anything if I’m going for the gusto – so to speak – I want the real thing just a bite of it. The flavor is more satisfying.

Delish! Anything with dark chocolate and peanut butter is high on my list.

Francesca @ Love.Bake.Read

Fantastic snack idea! I’d probably chow them down all in a day. Yum!

Sarah Voigt

Oh my, do those look good! Say, might you be interested in a recipe/post idea involving slow cookers? If so, please let me know if there’s an email address I could send to. I can be reached at sarah [at] lemkeanderson [dot] com.

Amanda Ferraioli

I can’t wait to make these! Annie, what kind of peanut butter did you use for this recipe? We only ever have natural peanut butter on hand, but I never know if I should be using it for baking. Thank you!

Rebecca Lovatt

Definitely have to try these!

Emily @ Life on Food

I love these little energy bites. Just the perfect amount to fill you up and it is a sweet treat.

Kelsey

Made these this weekend for a post-workout snack. Love them!

Erin

These look delicious, however, we have tree nut allergies in our house. Any ideas on a substitution for the almonds? Thanks, Annie!

annieseats

Please see the FAQ page regarding substitutions. Thanks!

annieseats

I used natural as well. Enjoy!

annieseats

I don’t accept guest posts. Sorry!

annieseats

Yes, I send them in the kids lunches.

annieseats

Thanks Mel! I was very happy with these photos. I honestly think it’s because I always get stressed about photographing brown food, so then I really work it and many of those photos end up being my favorite. So funny how that works out!

Sarah Voigt

Thanks; it wasn’t a guest post idea, but rather an idea for a post that you’d write. Thanks for replying!

I crave something sweet after dinner pretty much every night..need to keep a batch of these on hand to satisfy me instead of the scoops of ice cream I’ve been having!

marieke

My girls are going back to school next week and these look like great treats to take with them. Any ideas on how long they keep in the fridge?

annieseats

They keep quite a while. I can’t say for sure how long (see the FAQ page regarding food storage) but I think they last a long time.

Sally Ford

Oh my, I just made these and they are delicious! I left out the coconut flakes and they still came together beautifully.

Cathy

Erin (and any other nut allergy moms), one of my kids is allergic to both tree nuts and peanuts, and I just made these today using sunflower seeds in place of the almonds and soy butter in place of the peanut butter and they are great! I would think you could also use sunflower seed butter in place of the peanut butter if you had that on hand…

Sophia Joyce

Made these last night and worked out beautifully. Substituted coconut oil for butter as I didn’t have any of the former. Very useful recipe and great to have in the fridge for quick energy bite when nursing a small baby! Thank you.